


Old Floorboard Creaking

by LenoirWhittlethorn



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Bonding Time, Fluff, Gen, Movie Night, some spoopy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-01
Updated: 2016-11-01
Packaged: 2018-08-28 09:21:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 794
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8440135
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LenoirWhittlethorn/pseuds/LenoirWhittlethorn
Summary: It's movie night at the Castle of Lions, spooky movie night, but something very surprising happens and it's not the plot twist in the movie.





	

**Author's Note:**

> I use "she/her" pronouns for Pidge. 
> 
> The horror movie doesn't exist (yet), but it's based on a Japanese urban legend. 
> 
> Many thanks to my bestie [Glitchikinns](http://glitchikinnsblog.tumblr.com/) who helped edit this fic. Definitely check out her stuff, for the past month, she has been doing a themed Inktober: Shiro.

The room was dark with only the laptop being a source of light; only the Voltron pilots were there, Allura and Coran wanted to work some more on the castle’s calibrations. Pidge was a genius for storing various movies on her laptop, never mind the legalities, but on this particular night, she was viewed as a villain. She rolled her eyes when she received another glare from Lance. The pleading pout from Hunk made her groan.

“You wanted a scary horror movie!” she cried out; everyone else flinched.

“This looks like something from the dark side of the web!” Lance snarled.

He cracked his accusing finger out like a whip at the screen. The quality of the film was clear, but obviously digital and not handled well. It was produced by a small film company from Japan. The perspective often shifted from found footage to standard, over the shoulder or behind the character camera angle.

“It’s not, it was a recent Japanese horror movie, hence the subtitles,”  Pidge defended and stuck her tongue out at Lance.

“I knew horror movie night was a bad idea,” Hunk whined and covered his face. “Keith, did you see that ghost lady down that hall?” he whispered.

Keith sat on the floor, since Hunk, Pidge, and Lance took up the sofa space in front of the screen, his arms crossed over his chest after the first slight scare. “Yeah, but Yukiko is still going down that way. Stupid.” He shook his head.

“Oh, why would she do that!” Hunk hissed.

Lance tore his attention away from Pidge, after sticking his tongue out in retaliation of course, and patted Hunk’s shoulder. “It’s alright, big guy.”

“No, it’s not--stop calling out for your sister, Yukiko, that is NOT your sister!” Hunk squeaked from behind his hands.

Shiro, who also sat on the floor, tilted his head to the side. “You’d think the white kimono would be a dead giveaway.” He lightly patted Hunk’s knee, not once looking away from the screen. “You wanna stop, buddy?”

Hunk lowered his hands to look at Shiro, then everyone else. “I-I don’t want to ruin the movie night,” he said meekly.

Just then, everyone perked up at the voice coming out from the laptop’s speakers. “Do you think I’m pretty?” the English subtitles read as the soft, musical voice spoke.

The movie’s orchestra began emphasizing the violins’ high notes, their crescendo only being beaten by Hunk’s rising cry. The protagonist, Yukiko, only gasped when the woman spoke. This made Lance mutter “nonononononononono” at increasing speed. Then, the ghost woman’s face took up the whole screen, her mouth hanging wide open in a manic smile. She had glasglow cuts on her mouth, making her look like a gaping shark.

“Do you think I’m pretty?” the ghost woman snarled viciously.

The screen flashed because Pidge accidentally exited out of fullscreen mode with her wireless mouse. Hunk and Lance screamed and latched onto each other. Keith stared, wide-eyed at the screen, his chest rising and falling rapidly. And Shiro…

Shiro put his metal hand over his mouth and the other paladins looked at their leader worriedly. They forgot about their frazzled nerves, concerned that maybe Shiro got triggered into a PTSD episode. But before any one of them could reach out, a peculiar noise went off.

A deep snort erupted from Shiro and his shoulders shook; he was laughing. Their serious, straight-laced, no-more-puns-please leader, snorted like a teenager hearing a raunchy joke. Nobody touched him, they only watched as Shiro’s laughter wheezed out.

He seemed surprised by his sudden fit because Shiro shook his head. “S-sorry guys,” he rasped between soft peals of giggles.

Shiro was  _ giggling _ .

By this time, Pidge had turned off the movie. She was the only one that moved, but her eyes never left Shiro. Keith hesitantly put a hand on Shiro’s shoulder.

“That’s...okay, Shiro.” Keith said slowly. “Uh, are you alright?”

Shiro stopped shaking, though a chuckle slipped out before he spoke. “Oh yeah, I’m good. I, for some reason, found that jumpscare fun.” Shiro blushed. “Uncalled for, I know.”

Lance cleared his throat. “Not uncalled for, just surprising. We’re not used to you laughing.”

“Laughing like that,” Hunk added as he finally released Lance.

“Did you always find horror movies funny?” Pidge wondered.

Shiro shrugged and smirked. “I think it was the jumpscare mixed with Lance and Hunk’s screams.”

Thinking about the scenario again, soft laughter bubbled from Shiro once more. The younger paladins exchanged stares, before joining their leader. While his laugh was rough, it was utterly contagious. Alone, Shiro’s laugh clearly sounded like a neglected instrument, but with the other paladins’ laughter, he became part of a well-tuned orchestra of warmth. It was the best movie night.

  
  



End file.
